IDEA Complaint Decision 25-134

On September 25, 2025, the Department of Public Instruction (department) received a complaint under state and federal special education law from #### (complainant) against the #### (district). This is the department’s decision regarding that complaint. The issues are whether the district, beginning September 24, 2024, properly responded to parent’s requests for a special education evaluation; and properly conducted a comprehensive special education evaluation.

 

Whether the district properly responded to parent’s requests for a special education evaluation

 

Within 15 business days of receiving a request to evaluate a student for eligibility under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a school district must send to the student’s parents a request to evaluate the student. Wis. Stat. 115.777. The evaluation must be completed by the district within 60 days of receiving the parents’ consent to conduct the evaluation. Wis. Stat. 115.78. Whenever a school district refuses to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, educational placement, or provision of a free appropriate public education to a student, the district must provide the parents written notice, including a statement that the parents and student have protections under procedural safeguards specified in the IDEA regulations. 34 CFR § 300.503. A reevaluation may occur not more than once a year unless the parent and the local educational agency (LEA) agree otherwise. A reevaluation must occur at least once every three years unless the parent and the LEA agree that a reevaluation is unnecessary. 34 CFR § 300.303.

 

Based on interviews and information provided by the complainant, who is the student’s parent, and the district, the parent initially requested a special education evaluation on October 8, 2024, and again on November 22, 2024. The district acknowledged the district did not properly respond to the parent’s requests for a special education referral. On January 10, 2025, the district received a written referral from the parent. The district received the parent’s consent to conduct assessments on January 31, 2025, and the evaluation was properly completed within 60 days of that date on March 20, 2025. The student’s individualized education program (IEP) team developed their initial IEP on April 3. The district inadvertently delayed sending the parent the form to provide their consent for the student’s initial placement, and the district did not receive it until June 2, 2025. As such the district did not begin providing the student services until the beginning of the 2025-26 school year. On September 11, 2025, the parent requested an IEP team meeting and reevaluation. While the reevaluation request was made within a year of the initial evaluation, the district agreed to conduct a reevaluation and began that process in a timely manner. The reevaluation is ongoing as of the date of this complaint decision. The district improperly responded to parent’s request for a special education evaluation in the fall of 2024 but properly responded to the request for reevaluation in the fall of 2025.

 

Whether the district properly conducted a comprehensive special education evaluation

 

The purpose of a special education evaluation is to determine whether the student is a child with a disability in need of special education and the nature and extent of the student's educational needs. Every special education evaluation must be sufficiently comprehensive to identify all of the student's disability-related needs, whether or not commonly linked to the disability category(s) under which the student has been classified. 34 CFR § 300.304. A district may not provide a student special education services without a full and individual comprehensive special education evaluation, the development of an IEP, and parental consent for the initial provision of services. 34 CFR § 300.301(a).

 

The parent raised concerns with the district prior to the initial evaluation that the student may have autism, but the parent and district did not specifically discuss the possibility of autism during the initial evaluation conducted in fall of 2024. Based on interviews and documentation, the fall 2024 initial evaluation identifies the student as meeting disability criteria under the category of Significant Development Delay (SDD). The eligibility criteria form in the student’s evaluation indicates that the IEP team must “first consider other areas of impairment” before identifying a student under SDD. However, the documentation also indicates under the list of additional disability areas, the IEP team indicated it had not considered and rejected additional impairments. The district did not properly conduct a comprehensive initial evaluation of the student where they indicated they evaluated the student under the criteria for SDD but considered no other impairment areas.

 

The district is currently conducting a reevaluation of the student and are considering whether the student may meet criteria in impairment areas other than SDD, including autism.

 

Prior to the department’s receipt of this complaint, the district took corrective action to ensure referrals and evaluations are completed in a timely manner. The district has provided the department documentation of these corrective actions, and the department finds they are sufficient to ensure the noncompliance does not recur. The district is directed to submit to the department within 30 days a corrective action plan that will ensure staff are aware of their responsibility to ensure special education evaluations are comprehensive.

 

The district’s delays in both responding to the parent’s initial request for a referral and sending the student’s parent the form to provide consent for initial placement led to a delay in the district providing the student’s initial special education services. Within 30 days of the date of this decision, the district must reconvene the student’s IEP team to determine the amount of compensatory services needed due to the delay. The IEP team must document their discussion and decision in the IEP. The district must submit a copy of the revised IEP to the department within 10 days of the IEP team meeting.

 

All noncompliance identified above must be corrected as soon as possible but in no case, more than one year from the date of this decision. This concludes our review of this complaint. This decision is final for the IDEA State Complaint process. These issues may be addressed through other dispute resolutions, including mediation and due process hearings. For more information, visit the department’s website at http://dpi.wi.gov/sped/dispute-resolution or contact the special education team at (608) 266‑1781.